1.
Public
Citizens and communicators engagement
faced with technological innovations
1
Civic participation seminar Toulouse, February 17th 2022
Based on the Berenschot stratcom model
Robert Wester, February 17th 2022

2.
Public
1. Current trends and impact on communicators Europe-
wide and municipalites in the Netherlands
2. How practitioners anticipate (roles and expectations)
3. ​Ideas to further professionalize communication
Agenda
2

3.
Public
Data-driven strategies, fake news, COVID-19 and digital transformation are
the most important issues for organisations and communication departments
3
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Degree
to
which
issues
impact
your
organization
Degree to which the communication department could help to anticipate on these issues
Please indicate the degree to which you expect the following issues to impact your organisation and the
degree to which communication could help to anticipate on these issues
Other issues that participants
think have an impact on the
organization are social reaction to
migration, EU enlargement, and
geopolitical tensions.
low
high
low
high

4.
Public
Most important trends for the organization:
- Decreased societal trust in government
- Mission driven implementation
- Participatory governance
- empowered and critical civilian
- Increasing polarisation in society
Most important trends for communication teams:
- Becoming a strategic partner of the top level
- Digitalization
- The experience is key
- Transition from target groups to people
- Understandable and inclusive communication.
Also important:
• Further centralization en grow of communication
• Investment in new competencies such as digital skills
• Better relation with stakeholders
Most important trends for municipalities in the Netherlands
4 4
Polarisation
Empowered and
critical civilian
Decreased social trust in
government
Mission
driven
implemen-
tation
Participatory
governance
Becoming a
strategic partner of
the top level
The experience is
key
Understandable
and inclusive
communication
Transition from
target groups
to people
Digitalization

5.
Public
The five roles in the modern communications department
5
In the modern communications department, five roles can be
distinguished. We define these roles as follows:
• Strategic partner to the board: consulting and advising
the board and top management of the organization
• Expert in communication activities: delivering day-to-
day communication activities that support all functions of
the organization, dealing with the press: answering press
questions, writing press releases and spokesperson
• Stakeholder engagement and building relationships:
Communicating the corporate strategy to stakeholders and
interested publics, building stakeholder relations
• Specialist in intelligence and monitoring: gathering
day-to-day insights from media, stakeholders etc.
• Coach and facilitator of communications: coaching all
members of the organization and enabling them to
communicate professionally

6.
Public
3.4
4.3
3.5
3.0
3.2
Strategic partner
Expert in communication activities
Stakeholder engagement and building
relationships
Intelligence specialist
Coach and facilitator
How would you classify the current performance of your communication department on the five roles?
Results indicate that the expert role is most established amongst participants
6

7.
Public
Participants expect that the focus on digital and social media channels and the
focus on external stakeholders will relatively increase
7
15.8%
15.8%
84.2%
42.1%
73.7%
84.2%
57.9%
26.3%
Focus on digital and social media channels
Focus on traditional media channels
Focus on external stakeholders
Focus on internal stakeholders
What do you think will be the trend in the focus of the communication department until 2023?
Decreases Remains the same Increases

8.
Public
Context
• Societal disruption:
- Polarisation
- Loss of trust in government
- Technological revolution
- Complex assignments (climate, COVID)
The role of communication in participatory governance
Role of Communication
• Building trust through
- Datadriven strategy and communication
- Much emphasis on behaviour and ethics
• Connecting by
- Being transparant on dilemma’s
- Dialogue
• Engaging and alignment with civil society
and stakeholders through values driven
communication
8

9.
Public
• Goal: dialogue with civilians and stakeholders
• Two main lines: listening and talking
• Physical and online multidiciplinary place at
the heart of the organization
• 5 roles:
- Analysts/monitoring
- Webcare
- Webeditors
- Social media experts
- Data analysts
• Close cooperation with spokespersons,
communication advisors, responsible policy
officers, aldermen
One concrete example: the newsroom: outside is inside
9

10.
Public
Newsroom: in the heart of the organization
• Daily analysis of major trends in society
is also send to the internal organisation.
• Giving direct recommendations to policy
responsables
• Gives the opportunity to directly contact
or engage in dialogue with citizens
• Gives input for proactive
communications
• No advice without issue analysis
• Content can be used for different
channels (both internally and externally)
10

11.
Public
• Strategic communication and participative governance are important for
communication teams all across Europe.
• To achieve public consent and to counter low trust society stakeholder and
civilian participation and engagement is crucial
• These challenges require capacity building and an investment in the size of
communication teams
• Exchange of good practices and dialogue on how to strengthen the position
of communication within our organizations needs further attention
• I would propose to build a centre of expertise on public communication
within the framework of the Club of Venice and CAPCOM in the coming
years.
Wrap up: capacity building and knowledge exchange is key
11

12.
Public
About Berenschot consultancy
Berenschot is an independent management
consultancy firm with 400 employees worldwide. For
over 80 years, we have impressed our clients in the
public and business sectors with smart, new insights.
We acquire these new insights and turn them into
something practicable. We do this by combining
innovation and creativity. Clients prefer Berenschot
because our advice gives them a head start.
Berenschot is experienced in raising the standard of
communications within government organizations,
institutions and companies. We help our clients to
increase their impact by improving the strategic
position of the communications department.
If you wish more information, please visit our website
(link) or contact Robert Wester(e-mail).
12

13.
Public
Robert Wester
Managing Director Berenschot EU
Berenschot EU Aarlenstraat 20 1050 Brussel
r.wester@berenschot.nl